2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election

The 2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on 5 July 2020 to elect the Governor of Tokyo. In a result viewed as an endorsement of her handling of Tokyo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] incumbent Yuriko Koike was re-elected for a second term in a landslide,[2] increasing her share of the vote to 59.7%.[3]

2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election

← 2016 5 July 2020 2024 →
Turnout55.00% Decrease 4.73 pp
 
Candidate Yuriko Koike Kenji Utsunomiya
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 3,661,371 844,151
Percentage 59.7% 13.76%
Supported by Tomin First[1] CDP, DPFP, JCP, SDP

 
Candidate Tarō Yamamoto Taisuke Ono
Party Reiwa Shinsengumi Independent
Popular vote 657,277 612,530
Percentage 10.72% 9.99%
Supported by DPFP Ishin

Election results by municipalities. Incumbent governor Yuriko Koike swept all municipalities with more than 50% of popular votes.

Governor before election

Yuriko Koike
Independent

Elected Governor

Yuriko Koike
Independent

Candidates

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A total of 22 candidates registered candidacies for the election.[3]

Incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike announced her campaign for re-election on 12 June 2020.[4] Similar to her first campaign for Governor, Koike ran as an independent and did not receive the endorsement of any party, aside from the support of the regional Tomin First party which she founded in 2017. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party considered endorsing Koike in the 2020 election, unlike in the 2016 gubernatorial election in which the party endorsed a separate candidate, however the party ultimately chose not to endorse any candidate, instead encouraging members to vote freely.[5][6] Koike was widely expected to win a second term, based on opinion polling conducted in the weeks prior the election.[7]

Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer and former chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, announced his candidacy on 28 May 2020. Utsunomiya was considered the main opposition to Koike, having received endorsements from a coalition of opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. This was Utsunomiya's third campaign for Governor of Tokyo, having also ran in the 2012 and 2014 elections.[8]

Other notable candidates included Tarō Yamamoto, a former actor who founded the anti-establishment and anti-nuclear energy party Reiwa Shinsengumi in 2019, Taisuke Ono, the former Vice Governor of Kumamoto, whose candidacy received the endorsement of Nippon Ishin no Kai, Makoto Sakurai, a far-right activist and the founder and leader of the Japan First Party, and Takashi Tachibana, the head of the NHK Party and a former member of the House of Councillors.[8]

Tokyo Review described the election as a "circus"[9] viewed by many candidates as marketing opportunity:

For less than $30,000, each candidate gets several minutes to broadcast whatever they want on NHK, an official statement delivered to every single household in Tokyo, and a prime outdoor location on every street in the city for their posters for two weeks.

Results

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Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2020[3][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent (Supported by Tomin First) Yuriko Koike (incumbent) 3,661,371 59.7%   15.21%
Independent (Supported by Constitutional Democratic, Democrats for the People, Communist, Social Democratic) Kenji Utsunomiya 844,151 13.76% N/A
Reiwa Shinsengumi (Supported by Democrats for the People) Tarō Yamamoto 657,277 10.72% N/A
Independent (Supported by Ishin) Taisuke Ono 612,530 9.99% N/A
Japan First Makoto Sakurai 178,784 2.92%   1.23%
Horiemon New Party (Supported by NHK Party) Takashi Tachibana 43,912 0.72%   0.20%
Happiness Realization Hiroko Nanami 22,003 0.36%   0.08%
Independent Teruki Gotō 21,997 0.36%   0.25%
Independent Shion Sawa 20,738 0.34% N/A
Independent Makoto Nishimoto 11,887 0.19% N/A
Smile Hiroshi Komiyama 10,935 0.18%   0.60%
People's Sovereignty Party Masayuki Hiratsuka 8,997 0.15% N/A
Horiemon New Party (Supported by NHK Party) Osamu Hattori 5,453 0.09% N/A
Horiemon New Party (Supported by NHK Party) Kenichirō Saitō 5,114 0.08% N/A
Independent Hiroshi Ichikawa 4,760 0.08% N/A
Independent Hisao Naitō 4,145 0.07% N/A
Independent Yasuhiro Sekiguchi 4,097 0.07%   0.05%
Independent Hideyuki Takemoto 3,997 0.07% N/A
Independent Hitoshi Ishi 3,356 0.05% N/A
Independent Yasuhiro Nagasawa 2,955 0.05% N/A
Independent Seiichi Oshikoshi 2,708 0.04% N/A
Independent Kazue Ushio 1,510 0.02% N/A
Turnout 6,132,679 55%   4.73% '"`UNIQ−−ref−00000018−QINU`"'

Results by municipality

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Municipality Yuriko Koike Kenji Utsunomiya Taro Yamamoto Taisuke Ono Makoto Sakurai Takashi Tachibana
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Total 3,661,371 59.70% 844,151 13.76% 657,277 10.72% 612,530 9.99% 178,784 2.92% 43,912 0.72%
Chiyoda 16,727 54.77% 3,950 12.93% 3,013 9.87% 4,775 15.64% 1,065 3.49% 272 0.89%
Chuo 43,300 56.42% 8,559 11.15% 7,769 10.12% 12,581 16.39% 2,274 2.96% 722 0.94%
Minato 51,426 52.70% 12,876 13.20% 11,227 11.51% 16,031 16.43% 2,994 3.07% 946 0.97%
Shinjuku 79,320 54.80% 22,187 15.33% 16,405 11.33% 17,431 12.04% 4,952 3.42% 1,267 0.88%
Bunkyo 61,103 54.42% 18,612 16.58% 10,892 9.70% 15,209 13.55% 3,101 2.76% 835 0.74%
Taito 54,082 58.51% 11,646 12.60% 10,131 10.96% 10,262 11.10% 3,365 3.64% 795 0.86%
Sumida 76,302 62.01% 13,719 11.15% 12,823 10.42% 12,396 10.07% 4,042 3.28% 1,019 0.83%
Koto 140,185 60.46% 28,888 12.46% 22,793 9.83% 26,296 11.34% 6,613 2.85% 1,846 0.80%
Shinagawa 108,373 58.78% 23,831 12.93% 18,220 9.88% 22,726 12.33% 5,419 2.94% 1,763 0.96%
Meguro 66,838 53.08% 19,138 15.20% 15,380 12.22% 17,753 14.10% 3,270 2.60% 989 0.79%
Ota 194,095 60.30% 40,069 12.45% 32,349 10.05% 34,201 10.63% 10,075 3.13% 2,576 0.80%
Setagaya 239,191 54.69% 68,709 15.71% 52,688 12.05% 53,463 12.22% 11,609 2.65% 2,783 0.64%
Shibuya 54,248 51.65% 16,705 15.91% 13,718 13.06% 13,950 13.28% 3,139 2.99% 929 0.88%
Nakano 83,070 54.23% 25,236 16.47% 18,258 11.92% 16,294 10.64% 5,369 3.51% 1,244 0.81%
Suginami 143,992 52.66% 48,350 17.68% 33,096 12.10% 32,078 11.73% 8,090 2.96% 1,782 0.65%
Toshima 71,714 58.01% 17,518 14.17% 13,425 10.86% 12,698 10.27% 4,297 3.48% 958 0.77%
Kita 97,776 60.30% 22,729 14.02% 16,547 10.20% 15,091 9.31% 4,806 2.96% 1,156 0.71%
Arakawa 55,892 61.63% 11,199 12.35% 9,616 10.60% 8,488 9.36% 2,863 3.16% 675 0.74%
Itabashi 148,856 60.42% 33,965 13.79% 25,981 10.55% 21,835 8.86% 7,991 3.24% 1,986 0.81%
Nerima 200,645 59.89% 46,866 13.99% 35,239 10.52% 32,228 9.62% 9,984 2.98% 2,405 0.72%
Adachi 179,516 65.38% 29,943 10.90% 29,396 10.71% 19,352 7.05% 8,380 3.05% 1,955 0.71%
Katsuhika 123,297 63.97% 21,586 11.20% 21,229 11.01% 15,038 7.80% 6,004 3.12% 1,372 0.71%
Edogawa 180,714 65.19% 27,198 9.81% 28,021 10.11% 23,133 8.34% 9,251 3.34% 2,016 0.73%
Hachioji 149,739 63.95% 30,558 13.05% 24,191 10.33% 16,921 7.23% 6,318 2.70% 1,536 0.66%
Tachikawa 51,253 63.75% 10,425 12.97% 8,299 10.32% 6,068 7.55% 2,166 2.69% 535 0.67%
Musashino 39,403 54.07% 13,019 17.86% 7,990 10.96% 8,592 11.79% 1,979 2.72% 423 0.58%
Mitaka 50,698 56.41% 14,701 16.36% 10,495 11.68% 9,186 10.22% 2,367 2.63% 550 0.61%
Ome 39,993 68.71% 6,385 10.97% 5,690 9.78% 3,389 5.82% 1,312 2.25% 290 0.50%
Fuchu 71,272 61.83% 15,272 13.25% 11,957 10.37% 10,361 8.99% 3,407 2.96% 716 0.62%
Akishima 32,178 66.30% 5,894 12.14% 4,544 9.36% 3,354 6.91% 1,286 2.65% 314 0.65%
Chofu 65,097 58.48% 16,266 14.61% 12,531 11.26% 11,206 10.07% 3,137 2.82% 707 0.64%
Machida 122,849 63.66% 24,935 12.92% 19,753 10.24% 15,481 8.02% 4,950 2.57% 1,160 0.60%
Koganei 32,567 56.89% 10,028 17.52% 5,899 10.30% 5,955 10.40% 1,410 2.46% 329 0.57%
Kodaira 52,314 60.09% 13,048 14.99% 8,890 10.21% 8,205 9.42% 2,305 2.65% 501 0.58%
Hino 54,065 61.97% 12,488 14.31% 8,824 10.11% 6,885 7.89% 2,311 2.65% 596 0.68%
Higashimurayama 41,898 62.52% 9,913 14.79% 6,857 10.23% 4,904 7.32% 1,653 2.47% 395 0.59%
Kokubunji 35,347 57.81% 10,235 16.74% 6,243 10.21% 6,155 10.07% 1,582 2.59% 409 0.67%
Kunitachi 21,146 56.86% 6,590 17.72% 4,230 11.37% 3,405 9.16% 882 2.37% 225 0.60%
Fussa 14,523 66.18% 2,361 10.76% 2,282 10.40% 1,503 6.85% 653 2.98% 140 0.64%
Komae 24,251 59.15% 6,502 15.86% 4,482 10.93% 3,640 8.88% 1,027 2.51% 260 0.63%
Higashiyamato 24,655 65.80% 4,927 13.15% 3,587 9.57% 2,479 6.62% 907 2.42% 192 0.51%
Kiyose 21,016 61.37% 5,714 16.69% 3,506 10.24% 2,315 6.76% 838 2.45% 183 0.53%
Higashikurume 32,466 61.98% 8,198 15.65% 5,322 10.16% 3,993 7.62% 1,201 2.29% 248 0.47%
Musashimurayama 19,306 69.25% 3,047 10.93% 2,714 9.74% 1,469 5.27% 710 2.55% 147 0.53%
Tama 42,259 59.69% 11,058 15.62% 7,731 10.92% 6,130 8.66% 1,733 2.45% 470 0.66%
Inagi 26,522 63.26% 5,095 12.15% 4,204 10.03% 3,878 9.25% 1,054 2.51% 306 0.73%
Hamura 16,062 67.95% 2,724 11.52% 2,211 9.35% 1,519 6.43% 573 2.42% 124 0.52%
Akiruno 24,819 70.13% 3,913 11.06% 3,284 9.28% 1,831 5.17% 823 2.33% 173 0.49%
Nishitokyo 56,941 60.02% 14,019 14.78% 10,150 10.70% 8,704 9.18% 2,520 2.66% 551 0.58%
Mizuho 9,754 74.53% 987 7.54% 1,161 8.87% 623 4.76% 296 2.26% 49 0.37%
Hinode 5,451 71.78% 832 10.96% 612 8.06% 386 5.08% 147 1.93% 24 0.32%
Hinohara 955 77.58% 97 7.88% 108 8.77% 38 3.09% 8 0.65% 3 0.24%
Okutama 2,195 79.50% 186 6.74% 201 7.28% 82 2.97% 40 1.45% 5 0.18%
Oshima 2,657 70.35% 483 12.79% 293 7.76% 179 4.74% 56 1.48% 12 0.32%
To-shima 155 81.58% 16 8.42% 7 3.68% 10 5.26% 1 0.53% 0 0.00%
Niijima 1,278 80.73% 113 7.14% 5.56% 51 3.22% 31 1.96% 6 0.38%
Kozushima 830 82.18% 45 4.46% 65 6.44% 36 3.56% 14 1.39% 6 0.59%
Miyake 1,048 78.62% 98 7.35% 87 6.53% 49 3.68% 27 2.03% 7 0.53%
Mikurajima 114 59.38% 33 17.19% 23 11.98% 9 4.69% 7 3.65% 2 1.04%
Hachijo 2,737 74.21% 302 8.19% 363 9.84% 168 4.56% 53 1.44% 17 0.46%
Aogashima 71 69.61% 11 10.78% 15 14.71% 3 2.94% 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
Ogasawara 825 62.79% 154 11.72% 172 13.09% 59 4.49% 48 3.65% 10 0.76%

Simultaneous legislative by-elections

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Four by-elections to the assembly were held together with the gubernatorial election: in Ota Ward, Kita Ward, Hino City and the North Tama 3rd electoral district (=Chofu City+Komae City).[12] All four were won by LDP candidates.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "都民ファーストの会". tomin1st.jp.
  2. ^ a b Rich, Motoko (5 July 2020). "Tokyo's First Female Governor Sails to Re-Election Even as Virus Cases Rise". The New York Times.
  3. ^ a b c "開票速報|2020都知事選(東京都知事選挙):朝日新聞デジタル".
  4. ^ "It's official: Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announces bid for re-election". 12 June 2020.
  5. ^ "LDP mulls support for Yuriko Koike's re-election as Tokyo governor". 25 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Koike's campaign for Tokyo governor corrodes Japanese party politics".
  7. ^ "A week before Tokyo gubernatorial election, Koike takes commanding lead in polls". 29 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b NEWS, KYODO. "PROFILES: Candidates of Tokyo governor election". Kyodo News+.
  9. ^ Fahey, Rob. "Tokyo's 2020 Election Devolves into Circus - Tokyo Review".
  10. ^ "市川浩司(いちかわ・ひろし) : 東京都知事選2020 候補者・結果 : 東京都知事選2020 : 地方選 : 選挙・世論調査(選挙)". 19 June 2020.
  11. ^ https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200705/p2g/00m/0na/077000c [dead link]
  12. ^ Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Secretariat to the electoral commission: 2020 electoral calendar, Metropolitan/prefectural elections, retrieved June 3, 2021.
  13. ^ Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July 6, 2020: 東京都議会、自民が第2党に 補選で4戦全勝, retrieved June 3, 2021.